Fame and Fortune: Peter York

The style guru admits that he has spent ‘many hundreds of thousands’ on his Regency home

Style expert, author and essayist Peter York first came to prominence in the 1980s for co-writing The Sloane Rangers' Handbook with Ann Barr.

York, whose real surname is Wallis, was style editor at Harpers & Queen for 10 years. He has written numerous essays on English social trends and produced a book on Dictators' Homes, which looked at the interior-design choices of despots ranging from Adolf Hitler to Saddam Hussein.